


Jörmungandr

by juggernaught



Series: Yggdrasil trilogy [2]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-01
Packaged: 2019-04-30 17:42:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14502177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juggernaught/pseuds/juggernaught
Summary: Giratina's separated from the twins, Mew's weakened, and there are two unknown and unfriendly legendaries loose in the underworld, one of which somehow being stuck in Mel's body. Can things get worse? They always find a way to.





	Jörmungandr

**1.1. reverse back to**

**part i**

**giratina’s p.o.v.**

Giratina was sure that he was back in his original form, yet he still felt encumbered by his body as if it wasn’t his. The darkness brought back several unpleasant memories, but after a moment he could place the all-around gravitational pull and distant, muffled voices: he was inside of a pokéball.

_So, I’ve been caught huh…?_

Normally, he would let things run their course. It was inevitable for the Trainer to either release him or for him to be liberated by one of the legendaries—which, most often, tended to be Mew—but his heart raced at the thought. He didn’t have time to burn like that with the brats and Mew still in who knows what kind of condition—he couldn’t afford to lay around waiting for a rescuer like a damn princess. He couldn’t tell how much time he burned already doing so. But even someone as powerful as he couldn’t manage anything inside of a pokéball. The inherent design prevented the captives from opening any portal, special or temporal, until that blasted Trainer decided to use them. Also, more than likely, Giratina would be shoved out into the middle of a battle.

 _Screw all of this!_ he growled, clicking his mouth guards angrily. At least within a pokéball, the gravity was similar enough to the Distortion World that he could be in Origin Form. That was one high point of—

“Giratina, I choose you!”

 _Screw this doubly!_ he reiterated as he was changed into a stream of red light.

Giratina was never a morning person, but the sunlight really killed his eyes as he was abruptly thrust back into the normal world. He blinked as the light was cut off by a rushing Rapidash taking up his peripheral. He sidestepped it automatically and retaliated with a Shadow Ball, launching it across the dirt battlefield and sending it rolling. He hit the ground and tried to quickly assess his surroundings. On either side of them were mountains and ridges of diverse sizes. _Kalos doesn’t have mountains like this,_ he thought. _I recognize this place—I’m in Hoenn! How much time has passed already?_

“Rapidash, back on your hooves!” the other Trainer called. It was a boy, someone with not nearly as memorable of a face as Mel. Shit, he even missed that little redheaded cockroach. Oh, Arceus, give him strength. “Flame Charge!” She whinnied a war cry as she galloped forward, the flames of her mane and tail encasing her body.

“Giratina!” Giratina shot the most withering look possible at the Trainer giving him commands. He was an older guy, but not by much, and he wore a woolen hat and jacket in what had to be eighty or ninety-degree temperatures. “Use Shadow Sneak!”

“Humph!” he complained, turning back to the rushing pokémon. Had it been his choice, he would’ve roasted his “Trainer” himself, but as it was, he fell under the jurisdiction of the pokéball. He used his wings to catch a gale and soar over Rapidash’s head, and although the breeze couldn’t fully support his Altered Form’s weight, it did carry him across the area and into a spot where the mountains created a thick pool of shadows for him to fall into. He wanted to savor the feeling like a good meal, but the invisible restraints of the pokéball tugged on him like bondage ropes, forcing him to resurface closer to his goddamn Trainer. He sprung up right in front of Rapidash, getting the drop on her.

“What?” she exclaimed.

“Surprise motherfucker.” Her hooves were caught in the shadows, causing her to pitch forward before she was locked into place. Giratina set himself down directly in front of her and leaned in close, his mouth guards spread wide to show his sharp-tooth grimace. “I win, unless you want to know what the inside of a ghost looks like.”

“I’m not done yet!” she protested, her mane flaring with heat. He turned intangible, a bit of a feat with his denser form, and the flames easily passed through him.

“Look, you seem like a nice pokémon, and under normal circumstances I’d love to kill you for that, but right now, I have neither the time nor patience for a long and drawn out battle of Trainer skills and witty banter, so I’ll make this easier on both of us.” He used Psychic to bring her up into the air, and in the next second she was slammed hard into the ground. She fell still after that, and Giratina walked back to his—bleurgh— _Trainer_ and sat at his heels obediently.

“Wha— Lightning!” The other worthless human ran to his Rapidash, cradling her bleeding head. Giratina rolled his eyes—she was just a little scratched, not even concussed. “Lightning, return!” The boy returned his Rapidash and gave the other a hard look. “You’ll pay for this, Lowell!” he warned before running off, ascending a rough ridge before disappearing from sight. Meanwhile, his current owner looked at him with bugging eyes.

“What— You just— To another pokémon?” he stammered in shock.

_I think you forget the rest of that sentence._

“And you _talk?_ ” he gawked.

_No shit, Sherlock. Did you also notice that the sky is blue, and water is a liquid?_

“This is…you’re…” Lowell muttered before stepping backwards, staring at Giratina’s pokéball still in his hand. “I’m starting to think _you_ might’ve even been the one to hurt those kids—”

 _Kids! Where are they?_ he interrupted, rising to his feet. Lowell’s eyes grew even wider, his face paling. _Answer me, damn it!_ he yelled, his eyes flashing.

“They’re still in Snowbelle City!” he said quickly, putting his hands up. “At least, I think. That was a couple of weeks ago—”

 _Weeks!?_ He stepped away before he could try something he would regret, pacing angrily on the rough stone. _I’ve been in that fucking pokéball for weeks._ _Do you know how much of my time you’ve wasted? Grah! Anything could have happened to them by now!_ He whirled back on Lowell, who was frozen in his spot, and bared his teeth. _Stupid frigging humans! I’m gonna—_

He drew close to Lowell and the pokéball started glowing. Not even a half second later, it released an unfamiliar yellow beam that wound around him like a net. He struggled for a moment, then the energy net was fortified by a sudden and very painful voltage that left his muscles stiff and caused his vision to fade in and out for the next few seconds. He groaned as the net faded away but still couldn’t make his limbs work. _What…what the hell’s that?_

“Wow,” Lowell said, almost as stunned as Giratina was considering he _hadn’t_ been struck by lightning. “It’s, um, it’s the new pokéball model. The mall said it came with additional safety features, but that was…wow.”

 _So I really can’t touch you, huh?_ he growled listlessly, feeling misery settle over him like a familiar smothering blanket. _Ain’t this about a bitch. My luck just gets worse and worse._

“Uh, I have no idea what’s going on, but…” He trailed off for a moment, then persisted, “What’s so important to you about those kids?”

 _Beats me. All I know is that I want to see them alive before I’ll be able to go back to the Distortion World in good conscience._ He raised his head and narrowed his eyes at Lowell, who flinched under his stare. _It’s an easy deal, actually. You release me, and I won’t kill you in return._

“I’m not an expert in these things…nor am I actively trying to die today…but with this pokéball, even you can’t hurt me, right?” he said. Giratina shook off whatever insult he was about to say and rose to his feet.

 _Then let me ask this as a_ favor. _Take me back to Kalos._

“I… I can’t!” he protested, throwing his arms out in frustration. “I have to get Haylie!”

 _Who?_ he said blankly.

“My girlfriend! She went to fight Team Magma and I haven’t been able to contact her since, and that was two days ago. I already wasted so much time just _getting_ here—” He made an angry gesture at the rocky plains around them.

_“Here” is…?_

“Mt Chimney! Their base is under here somewhere,” he said hotly. “And you didn’t notice apparently, but the guy we just fought was a Grunt.”

_I noticed, I just don’t care for humans’ silly gang affiliations. So, all you have to do is retrieve your girlfriend?_

“Yes!” he insisted. “But it’s not easy to get in there! There are Grunts everywhere, and magma traps, and—”

 _And I’m a Ghost-type, if you’ve forgotten. One of my other special abilities is moving quickly from one location to another, as long as I have an idea of where I’m going._ He pitched forward and bit down on Lowell’s hoodie— _Hmm, apparently, I can touch him as long as I’m not thinking of killing him at that moment,_ Giratina thought—and gave him a brief warning to hold his breath before diving into the shadows of a nearby ridge. He went to the area Lowell indicated, “under here somewhere,” and found an abundance of shadows that he used to surface.

“Bwaha!” Lowell gasped as soon as he could breathe, then clapped his hands over his mouth. “The air’s full of soot and sulfur!” he cried, looking around the small storage room they were in. “And—wait, did you shrink?”

 _I’m a Ghost-type, I repeat. I can adjust my form within certain limits._ As of that moment, Giratina was Lowell’s height, five or six feet. Not that it affected his mass, what with him being in the human world and thusly victim to its stupid laws of physics, as shown when he hit the ground and caused all nearby stacks of boxes to tumble down.

“Wait, we’re inside—?”

 _How the hell would I know? I assume you’ve studied their base plans and whatnot, planning a big jailbreak._ One glance at Lowell’s facial expression proved otherwise. _So we’re going in blind, is that your battle plan? Gre-eat. Just suck me back into the pokéball and I’ll call it a damn day._

“N-No! I mean, considering who you are, beating Team Magma should be a piece of cake, right?”

 _That is, if I_ want _to fight them. Which I don’t. There are easier ways to get this done,_ it rumbled, stalking close to Lowell. He leaned back, alarm crossing his features as he reached for his pokéball belt— _And this is it._ Giratina turned intangible and passed into his body.

“Shit!” Giratina hissed through human teeth as pain wracked its nerves anew. It crumpled into a stack of large boxes that fell over upon impact, spilling bunches of clothing over it. It clenched Lowell’s chest, where his heart was beating like crazy on the verge of bursting from the stress. “Shit, shit, shit,” it swore, gripping his hand so tightly a few of the bones in his knuckles fractured. It thought it’d left that burning agony behind with Orville, but no: for the sake of a human brat—and the other two human brats that it was regretfully used to—it was throwing itself into the lion’s den—at least, it felt like lions were tearing at its new skin. Arceus god above _why did it have to hurt so damn much?_ It was like a punishment in itself!

 _‘What’s going on? What are you doing to me?’_ Lowell cried from some part of his mind. Giratina gave a wry smirk.

“Doing what you asked…rescuing your girlfriend. Just…give it a moment, and…the pain will pass.” Giratina bucked forward and clapped a hand over its mouth in shock, yet specks of blackened blood still passed between its fingers. “Why does this always have to happen?” it lamented before shaking its head. The pain ebbed and disappeared entirely a few seconds later, and Giratina dragged itself up. The proportions were all off compared to Orville, but it didn’t have to make a home within stupid Lowell’s body.

_‘My body is not stupid!’_

“Well, it’s not the stupid _est,_ but it’s up there.” It stretched its borrowed limbs, trying to gauge then new measurements, before it detected footsteps coming from outside.

“There’s a lot of commotion coming from here,” a man said. Giratina smiled to itself with a low chuckle.

“Watch and learn how the big boys play, Lowell.” The door slammed open and two humans, both wearing ridiculous red-themed garbs, ran inside. Giratina fell to its knees and seized their shadows, stopping them short. It clenched its hands around their necks, relishing their bug-eyed, blue-faced panic as they strained, whites of their eyes showing as they slipped towards death… With a weary sigh, it released them to fall limply to the ground.

 _‘What!? Did you just use my body to k-_ kill? _’_

“No… I didn’t,” it said flatly. “The urge to kill left me when I decided to put two dumb kids’ lives before my own.” It cracked its neck with a low growl. “Let’s get this shit done before I get too used to this body.”

╬╬╬

Even if Giratina wasn’t attacking with the intent to end lives, the Grunts of Team Magma very easily fell before him with well-aimed attacks or immobilizing their shadows. It was running out of time, on the other hand, as with every minute, it could feel Lowell’s body growing heavier, and something as simple as breathing became a bigger task. It clenched its chest, feeling Lowell’s heart beat erratically as it sidled down a rocky stairwell, one hand braced on the warm stone wall.

“Well, well, Lowell,” it snickered to him, “should I be a guest in this worthless vessel of a human body any longer, I will cause serious, doubtless irreparable damage to your organ systems.”

 _‘…’_ He didn’t respond right away, which further enlightened Giratina of what it was doing to his body. _‘I can hang on though, can’t I? Until you get Haylie back.’_

“You’re a strong man,” it snickered. “Strong, brave, or just plain foolish—one of those three, or maybe a mix of all of them.”

They descended into a crude version of a storeroom, where the heat caused Lowell’s hair to be plastered to his face with a thick coating of sweat. Large crates were stacked unevenly across its substantial width, and one glance proved them to be full of pokéballs—if Giratina had to guess, they weren’t Team Magma’s own. “I don’t see any girl around here, unless she’s stuck in one of these stupid thinks,” it remarked, looking around a particularly large stack. It was then that it caught sight of a human foot sticking out from beneath a cluster of pokéballs. Bending down with a huff, it grabbed the foot and yanked hard, freeing a whole girl from the mess.

 _‘Haylie!’_ Lowell all but shouted. Giratina winced at the volume as it looked over the supposedly valuable human. She had long blonde hair and a tattoo of Moltres on her left hip, visible with how her pleated skirt bunched up around her waist. _‘Hey, stop staring at her like that!’_

“ _You’re welcome,_ ” it grumbled, stepping back. It pulled away from Lowell and was surprised as both hit the ground on their knees in the next second.

“Hurts!” Lowell exclaimed, clapping his hands to his mouth as blood leaked from between his fingers and the corners of his eyes. Giratina rumbled a complaint.

 _I could’ve warned you about that if you’d given me the time, stupid human,_ it said, shaking its body out. _Anyway, grab your friend and I’ll get all of us out of—_

“What’s happening down here?” a female’s voice said before another Team Magma member came trudging into view. She was followed by a large camerupt that snuffled uneasily as she met eyes with Giratina. She looked between Giratina and its tagalongs before her mouth skewed into a frown. “Intruders? Well, it seems today might be fun after all. Camerupt, you know what to do.” The camerupt shuffled forward with lava already running from her mounds, causing the stone floor to sizzle upon contact. Giratina heaved an exasperated sigh.

“Why do I keep getting saddled with the heroics?” it asked Arceus to no avail. “The old me wouldn’t have given two shits whether or not a couple of dumb humans died from their petty squabbles, but now…I know it’ll keep me up at night now.” It snapped its tail out to the side and upended a large stack of crates over Lowell and Haylie. In the second before their collision, Giratina stomped down on the shadows they created, giving the two a brief warning to hold their breath before they fell through.

 _You, on the other hand,_ Giratina said as it watched them disappear, _if you all are so willing to get your hands on others’ pokémon…_ that _is reason enough for me to intervene._

“The legendary Giratina,” she said with a slight smile. “Well, you’re not Groudon, but I think Maxie will be pleased nonetheless to have a legendary pokémon in our midst.”

 _I’m_ better _than Groudon, actually, and I’ve no idea who this ‘Maxie’ character is, nor do I care to know._ Giratina saw plenty of shadows in the room, mostly thanks to the thin river of lava running through the floor like an artery. Plenty of shadows meant that she was going to have a bad time. He let out a low growl through a smirk and said, _Before we get on with this, you should know that I’ve been having a shitty day to the harshest definition of the word, and I’m not looking to keep witnesses._


End file.
